“That sounds like a perfect answer to a very rough day,” he said, as he reached out a gentle finger and stroked the little boy’s cheek. “Something is so very innocent and sweet about this age, isn’t there?”
“There is,” she said. “Anyway, I don’t know what else I can help you with.”
“Thank you. You’ve helped a lot,” he said with a smile. “Have you seen the driver again?”
He watched as she hesitated.
“Okay, so how much of an ex is your ex?”
She winced. “I didn’t think there was a problem. I was pregnant at the time we split, and he didn’t want anything to do with our baby. I’ve never had anything to do with him since. Then, all of a sudden, that accident happened, and since then, it just feels like I’m being watched all the time.”
He didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Has the dog been hanging around?”
“You know what? I think it has. I was worried about it because it looked really dangerous. But it’s never attacked me or even come anywhere close to me.”
He took a step back, trying to give her a bit of space. “Do you mind if I check your backyard? I’ll go up and down the alley anyway, but I would like to see if maybe the dog could have been in the backyard space as well.”
She hesitated.
He nodded and said, “You’re right to be alarmed,” he said. “I know I’m not a threat, but you don’t know me at all.”
“If we’re in the house, and the doors are locked,” she said, “I’d be okay if you checked out the backyard. I actually wouldn’t mind if you did check it out,” she admitted, “because I keep getting this feeling of being watched, you know? I don’t know. Maybe it’s the dog.”
“That’s possible too.” He looked up and down the block. “What’s the fastest way to the alley?”
She hesitated.
He said, “Look. I’m not asking to get into your backyard right now,” he said. “I don’t want you to feel threatened and especially not with this guy giving you trouble,” he said. “There’s enough craziness in the world, and I don’t want you to think that I’ll add to it.”
She just smiled at him, but he could see the relief on her face. “I think if you went down that way, there’s a break between the houses with a pathway. The alley turns and goes off into the block behind us.”
He immediately started walking that way, then turned back and said, “I’ll go down that way and come back up your alleyway. So if you see somebody looking in your backyard, you’ll know it’s just me.”
She nodded and smiled.
He headed down the block, and, as he got down a couple houses, he turned to look back and saw she was still standing there, watching him. He lifted a hand, then turned and left.
Chapter 5
Definitely an interesting man, but Jessica wasn’t sure she believed his story. Except that she had seen the dog herself. And, if he was looking for that dog, she wanted to help. She went back inside, and, with her son playing with blocks on the floor, she quickly pulled up Google and searched for War Dogs and the War Dog program. What she read made her heart squeeze tight. Those poor animals. To think that one might be loose out here, who was expected to go to a family and retire, just broke her heart.
With Danny still playing happily, she walked over to the glass back doors and stared outside. Just then she caught sight of the stranger. What was his name again?
She thought he said Greyson, but she couldn’t remember his last name.
He lifted a hand and waved at her from over the fence. She waved back. At least he was honest when he said that he was going into the back alley.
She watched as he disappeared from sight, going up the alley, and then came back a few minutes later, heading back down the alleyway again.
Now she felt foolish for not trusting him. She picked up Danny, opened the glass doors, and walked to the alleyway gate. She opened it. “Well, you might as well come in and take a look.”
He smiled and stepped inside. She didn’t know why he didn’t feel threatening. Especially at a time when it seemed like so many men out there made her uneasy. Instead, there was almost a comfort to having him around. That made her suspicious, but of herself, not of him.
He wandered around the yard, checking through the brush and nodded to himself.
“What does that mean?”
“Her hair is on the cedars out here,” he said, pulling some forward to show her.
“Oh,” she said, “I didn’t even think to look for signs like that.”
“I’ve been tracking her this whole time,” he said. “Not that it’s easy to see when it’s been so long, but this is recent.”
“I thought I’d caught glimpses of a dog in here,” she said, “so it makes sense to me.”
“Yes, it does.” He wandered around. “And you know a dog like that can jump a fence like this pretty easily, right?”
She stared at him in astonishment. “They can?”
“Six feet from a standstill without a problem,” he said with a smile. “And Kona, in this case, is a hell of a dog. Well-trained and obedient, but she’s gone a bit wild, without all the rules and restrictions she is used to in her world. Before, every waking moment was filled with something for her to do. She knew where to sleep, when to sleep, and how long she could sleep for. But now, all that military structure has been ripped apart in her world, and she’s got to be scared.”
“I can imagine.”
“Listen,” he said, pulling out another Titanium Corp business card, writing his number on the back. “If you see her again, even if you’re not sure it’s her, give me a call.” He hesitated and then said,
